Starting Back at the Beginning #25
by KaitlynRose
Summary: SeaQuest is starting its next tour, but the new crew don't seem to be too accepting of a fifteen year old on board.


I do not own seaQuest or its characters. I am not profiting from this story, it is for entertainment   
purposes only.  
  
Starting Back at the Beginning  
By: Kaitlyn Rose  
  
Lucas was just finishing running his last diagnostic. As far as he could tell, everything on the ship   
was up and running to perfection. This was third time he'd run the same diagnostics, but he couldn't help   
it. He was nervous.   
  
Almost all of seaQuest's primary functions were now running off of a computer program that he   
had designed. He knew the program was good, much better than the old, and he had put in several new   
components and safety precautions, but he still had butterflies in his stomach. If for some reason the   
program crashed or failed, he'd want to just die. He'd never be able to live down the shame or humiliation.   
  
He walked down the corridor back to his room. He tried hard to ignore the strange looks he was   
getting. The entire senior crew had come back, even Chief Crocker, but a lot of the lower ranking people   
were new, along with some of the science team. All of them looked at him funny, wondering just why a   
kid was on a submarine. The looks he got was even worse when they knew he was the Captain's son.  
  
He sighed. He couldn't believe he was going to have to prove himself all over again. It had been   
hard enough the first time. Well, thank god he didn't have to convince the senior crew again that he wasn't   
just some useless snot nosed kid who would only be in their way.  
  
"Hey, Lucas," Ben called.  
  
"Oh, hi Ben."  
  
"What's wrong?" Ben asked.  
  
"Nothing!" Lucas shot out.  
  
"Hey, hey, hey. Don't give me that," Ben said. "I'm your friend. Now what's up?"  
  
"I'm a freak again," Lucas said.  
  
"I'm afraid I don't follow," Ben replied.  
  
"Everyone on the boat is new, and they're all staring at me, whispering about me. I hate it."  
  
"They'll get over it soon enough," Ben told him. "They just need to get to know you is all."  
  
Lucas shrugged. "I guess."  
  
Just then the lights went out and the emergency lighting kicked on. Lucas felt those butterflies in   
his stomach start to turn into knots. What was wrong? What had happened with his program? He quickly   
took off running into his room and started accessing the system. Shit! Someone in computer engineering   
had turned off the wrong function. Lucas quickly turned the lights back on. He got up, surprised to see   
Ben still standing there.  
  
"What happened?" Ben asked.  
  
"Someone in computer engineering screwed up." Lucas grabbed a manual and started walking to   
D Deck to see who was messing with the program.  
  
Ben was about to go back to finish up some of his work when he suddenly found himself going   
after Lucas. He didn't know why, he just had a feeling Lucas might need some help with this.  
  
  
  
Lucas stepped into the computer sciences lab and saw two of the new techs talking to each other.  
  
"Good going, Jack, now how did you get the lights back on?"  
  
"I'm not sure," Jack said. "This program is awful. Nothing makes sense."  
  
Lucas cringed. "Did you bother to read the manual I wrote for you. I wrote it in layman's terms,   
and the program is very user friendly compared to the previous one."  
  
"Who the heck are you?" Jack asked.  
  
"Lucas Bridger, and technically I'm your boss since I'm head of Computer Engineering."  
  
"Excuse me?" the other guy said. "But I'm not taking orders from a baby who's not even military.   
Now really, who the hell are you and where's your parents? This area of the ship is classified, you don't   
belong here."  
  
"Listen," Lucas tried to explain, "I wrote the software running this ship. All of you should have   
received a manual. This manual," Lucas held the book up in his hands to make his point. "The entire   
program is explained in here. You should have already read this several weeks ago. If you had, you   
wouldn't have done something so stupid as having turned the lights off just now."  
  
"Now listen here you little brat. I don't take kindly to someone calling me stupid, and there is no   
way in hell the UEO would let a little kid write a computer program for the most powerful ship in the fleet.   
Now get the hell out of here before I toss you out on your ass!"  
  
"You'll do no such thing," Ben insisted. Lucas looked back to see one very pissed off Lieutenant   
standing behind him. "I want your names and I want them now."  
  
"Jack Fagan, sir."  
  
"Bill Dodger, sir."  
  
"Well, seaman Dodger and Fagan, unless you want me to report this incident to the Captain I   
suggest you listen and listen good. You will not threaten or try to injure anyone on this ship, ever. Do I   
make myself clear?"  
  
"Yes, sir," they both chimed.  
  
"Now, this is Lucas Bridger, as in Captain Bridger's son. Furthermore, he is the creator of the   
software running this ship. I know cause I helped him carry in the new consoles so he could finish his   
work. As head of Computer Sciences he is your boss, even though he is a civilian. You'll find that two   
thirds of this crew are civilians. Are there any other questions?" Ben demanded.  
  
"No sir."  
  
"Good, then I expect you to read the damn manual so you don't accidentally turn off weapons or   
propulsion in the middle of a battle. I'm assuming you both do know how to read?"  
  
"Yes sir," they replied. Fagan looked like he wanted to kill Ben Lucas noticed. The man was   
positively livid.  
  
Lucas stood there, unsure of what to do next. He quietly handed Fagan the manual and then left   
the room, Ben following him. Lucas was surprised to find that his hands were actually shaking a little. He   
hated confrontations like that. For a moment he had been truly afraid that he or Ben was going to be hit by   
one of them.  
  
He breathed deeply when he suddenly realized that those two men now hated his guts, and he was   
going to have to spend the next eleven months working with them. He hoped that with time the incident   
would be forgotten, but he highly doubted it. It also bothered him that he had needed Ben to fight his battle   
for him. He should have found a way to take control of the situation himself.  
  
"I'll talk to you later Ben."  
  
"Lucas, are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah," Lucas said, hurrying off to his room. He just wanted to be alone for a minute.  
  
Ben shook his head. 'Poor Lucas,' he thought. The kid hadn't been exaggerating when he said   
people were treating him like a freak again. He really believed that if he hadn't shown up when he had,   
Fagan just might have tossed him out of the room.  
  
He hated to do what he was about to, he knew it would piss Lucas off and further humiliate the   
kid, but honestly, the Captain had to know about what just happened. Ben quickly walked to the bridge.   
He was pretty sure he'd find him there.  
  
  
_______________________________________  
  
  
  
Lucas went into his room and plopped down onto his bunk. Right now he was missing the   
comfort and serenity of the beach house more than ever. 'Don't be a big baby,' he told himself. 'You'll   
just have to work hard and prove yourself again. You can do it. You've done it before.'  
  
Still, he resented the fact that he did. If he were twenty this wouldn't be a problem, everyone   
would just take his word on things, but instead he was fifteen. It didn't help that he had a baby face that   
made him look even younger than he was. He hadn't even started growing any facial hair yet.   
  
"Hey Darwin," Lucas said, looking at his friend staring at him form the aqua tube. Dad and   
Darwin were two of a kind. Both knew when he was feeling down in the dumps. Lucas turned on the   
vocorder.  
  
"Lucas sad."  
  
"No, frustrated."  
  
"What frustrated?"  
  
"Uh, I guess sad and angry at the same time."  
  
"Sad and angry. Why Lucas sad and angry?"  
  
"Because people treat me like a baby. They won't listen to me. I hate being different."  
  
"Darwin different. Lucas hate Darwin?"  
  
"No, I love you Darwin. You're nice to me."  
  
"Bridger nice to Lucas. Lucas, Bridger, and Doc are pod."  
  
"I know, but it's different for people. You have to fit in with other people not in the pod, and for   
me that is hard."  
  
"Bridger help."  
  
"No, he really can't on this one. He can order the others to listen, be nice, but it won't be the   
same. I want them to like me for me, not because my Dad told them to."  
  
"People complicated."  
  
"Tell me about it," Lucas agreed.  
  
"Lucas, Darwin play. Lucas be happy."  
  
Lucas thought for a minute. He was all done with his work for the day. Why not? "Okay   
Darwin, I'll meet you in the moon pool. We'll play."  
  
Darwin didn't reply, he just shot off at lightning speed in the direction of the moon pool.  
Lucas smiled, he felt better already.  
  
  
_____________________________________  
  
  
  
Nathan entered the wardroom with Ben and closed the door behind them.  
  
"So, Lieutenant, what's so important?"  
  
"Well, sir, something just happened, and I thought you should know about it, but you have to   
promise not to do anything."  
  
"I can't make that promise until I hear what happened," Nathan said.  
  
"Captain, it's about Lucas, and if he knew I was even here he'd kill me. If you actually act on   
this, it will just make things worse for him."  
  
"Start talking," Nathan ordered, already feeling concerned.  
  
Ben explained to the Captain what had just happened in Computer Engineering, and the threat that   
Fagan made against Lucas. Ben could see the Captain's face growing red with anger.  
  
"Thank you for telling me this. You're right, I won't do anything right now, it would only upset   
Lucas more, but I think later I'll go on down just to introduce myself, if you know what I mean."  
  
Ben smiled. He knew exactly what the Captain meant. He watched the Captain step out of the   
wardroom, not even bothering to dismiss him.   
  
Nathan decided to go to his quarters first and check up on Lucas. By the end of the last tour the   
whole boat adored the kid, it never even crossed him mind that Lucas would be made to feel ridiculed again   
when new crew members came aboard. He felt those familiar parental instincts kicking in, especially the   
over protective ones. Part of him wanted to go to Fagan and Dodger and rip their damn heads off.   
  
Lucas had had enough heartache to last him a lifetime. SeaQuest was his home, one of the few   
places in the world where he felt safe. He wouldn't let a couple of jerk computer techs take that security   
away form him.  
  
He entered his room and saw that Lucas wasn't there. He stood still for a minute and breathed   
deeply. He reached out and smiled. Lucas was okay. He was playing with Darwin. Good. That would   
give him time to go say hello to Fagan and Dodger.  
  
He walked deliberately down the corridors, greeting the crew as he passed by. He stepped into the   
computer lab and saw several men jump to attention as he entered.  
  
"Captain," they all greeted.  
  
"At ease," Nathan said. He walked slowly in front of them, taking stock of the five men before   
him. He silently read the names on their uniforms, Kirtz, Channing, Fagan, Zebrowski, and Dodger.  
  
"As you know I'm Captain Bridger. I just wanted to introduce myself. I hope your tour on   
seaQuest will be an enjoyable one. I expect my crew to follow chain of command, report for duty on time,   
and to give one hundred percent to the job. Have any of you had the chance to meet with the Head of   
Computer Engineering yet?" He wasn't surprised when none of them admitted to having met Lucas yet.  
  
"Well, don't be surprised when you do," Nathan continued. "Lucas Bridger is running the   
department. He's fifteen, but more than qualified for the job. He has a masters from Stanford in Artificial   
Intelligence, and he designed the software that runs most of this ship. This is also his second tour on   
seaQuest, so he pretty much knows the boat almost as well as I do, since I designed the seaQuest. If you   
have any questions that you need answered you'll probably find them in the manual he wrote, or you can   
ask Lucas personally."  
  
"Any questions?" Nathan asked, taking a brief moment to make eye contact with both Fagan and   
Dodger. He watched as both of them quickly looked away.  
  
"No, sir!" they all said.  
  
"Good, then I'll leave you gentlemen to get back to work." With that Nathan stepped out of the   
room and headed towards the moon pool.   
  
  
  



End file.
